ANTI-DRUG OVERDOSE

A last-minute addition to the Amber Alert bill has caused belated disquiet
among some members of Congress who voted for it.

It could, in principle, mean that the owners of concert venues could have
their property confiscated because of audience behavior - fighting,
drug-taking - that no realistic level of security could prevent.

What this measure has to do with missing children escapes us, but Sen.
Joseph Biden, D-Del, arranged to have a subcommittee tack it onto the Amber
Alert bill, which duly passed anyway.

Like other anti-drug laws, such as the ones allowing for forfeiture of
property involved in drug use even if the owner was not the party
responsible and was never charged with or convicted of a crime, this law is
overly broad. It should never have passed, not even as part of another more
popular law.